Kazakhstan, Astana, Dec. 24 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
The first toll road has been commissioned near the Kazakh capital of Astana, chairman of the Highway Committee under the Kazakh Ministry of Transport and Communications Zamir Saginov said at the presentation committee on Monday.
"The Astana-Schuchinsk road was commissioned in 2009," he said. The current presentation refers to the toll road project. Kazakhstan and France's GEA cooperated jointly on this issue."
He said that payment can be made by cash, a card or electronically. However, the cost of a toll road has not yet been determined.
The tariff will presumably range from 1 tenge (150.27 tenge = $1) per kilometre for passenger cars and up to 20 tenge for trucks.
After verification, it will be tested. In general, the cost of the entire system was 700 million tenge. The Kazakh Ministry of Transport and Communications expects to receive approximately 1.400 billion tenge a year for using the road.
"The system is adapted to Kazakh conditions and can work at minus 50 and up to plus 50 degrees," Mohammad Kasmun, representative of the French company, responsible for the equipment installation, said. "Our system had been installed in 35 countries worldwide. It can be easily managed remotely. The warranty is three years, but if the equipment is used correctly, it can work for 10 years."
According to the Kazakh Ministry of Transport and Communications, the test mode will continue until the first quarter of 2013.A toll booth could see up to 600 cars passing through per hour.